Spire's plans tied to city park

Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Tribune staff reporterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

The developer and architect of the Chicago Spire, a twisting skyscraper planned at the mouth of the Chicago River, hope to join a list of developers that have paid for city projects in exchange for more density for their developments.

The Spire's developer is dangling before city officials an offer of substantial funding for the long-delayed DuSable Park. In return, Dublin-based developer Garrett Kelleher hopes to design the lakefront park, which is near the Spire.

But the problem with his proposal is that some members of civic groups already have conceived a detailed plan for the park, and they are not happy with the new renderings.

The park issue could come up Monday at two community meetings to discuss the Spire.

"I see it as a potential opportunity for a project that has been legislated for the last 20 years," Chicago Parks Supt. Tim Mitchell said of the DuSable offer.

Kelleher is the latest developer to come knocking on the city's door hoping to make a highly dense development more appealing by offering to pay for a nearby public project.

Developers of Lakeshore East built a 6-acre park before starting construction on high-rises just south of the river. Trump Tower gave the city $18 million to be used for a nearby park and work along Wabash Avenue and the riverwalk.

Chicago planners say they tell developers up front that they'd like to see some public benefit. In Mayor Richard Daley's Chicago, open-space projects are heavily encouraged.

In the Spire's case, Kelleher is proposing a 2,000-foot tower--the tallest building in the nation--that is expected to house some 1,300 pricey condominiums.

Brent Ryan, urban planning professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said the developer is well aware that the Streeterville community is "anti-density and well-organized."

"The developer needs to get a variety of zoning variances so there will be some kind of deal made," Ryan said, referring to the project's density. "[The park proposal] just sweetens the deal."

The Chicago Plan Commission will review the Spire proposal April 19.

Santiago Calatrava's designs call for the park to be divided into two berms, pulled apart to reveal views of Lake Michigan from Water Street. Plazas at the top of the berms would be connected by a pedestrian and bike bridge that would cross the park and then join Calatrava's sail-shaped swing bridge that crosses the river.

The bridge could pose a potential problem because the city Department of Transportation held a lakefront pedestrian bridge competition and selected a winner two years ago for the same location. Brian Steele, spokesman for the department said the city was not obligated to construct the winning design of the bridge.

The DuSable Park design also includes elements from a master plan released in August by the DuSable Park Coalition, which generally opposes the developer's design. The elements include a plaza for Martin Puryear's abstract sculpture of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, a black man of Haitian descent who is considered to be one of the city's founders, as well as an outdoor classroom, wetlands and entrances from the north flank of the riverwalk and Ogden slip.

"There's 70 percent similarity," Mitchell said of the two plans.

But what upsets Friends of the Parks, the main group opposing Kelleher and Calatrava's designs, are calls for a northbound on-ramp to mid-level Lake Shore Drive that will encroach on parkland.

The on-ramp would have motorists driving into bikers and pedestrians strolling along the midlevel of the drive, said Friends of the Parks' president Erma Tranter.

"I believe the reason why they're designing this park is because they need a ramp here," Tranter said. "It's not clear if they need it because of access, but this will be taking away parkland."

For park officials, who have been trying to build DuSable for two decades, the big question is who will pay the $12 million to construct it.

The city has pledged $3 million for DuSable and the Park District has also budgeted $3 million. Friends of the Parks believe additional money can come from state and federal officials. But the Park District is less confident, and the city is concentrating its efforts on finding funds for the possible 2016 Olympic Games.

"I'm not going to pursue with someone who does not have a checkbook at the table as opposed to someone who may be able to get the checkbook," Mitchell said.

The developer has priced its park design at $13.5 million, but has not disclosed whether he's willing to pay for the entire project.

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Public meetings

There will be two meetings on Monday to discuss plans for the Chicago Spire:

- The Grant Park Advisory Council will meet at 12:15 p.m. Monday in the Grainger Ballroom of Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.

- The Streeterville Organization of Active Residents (SOAR) will meet at 6 p.m. in the Chicago Ballroom of the Chicago Marriott, 540 N. Michigan Ave.